Biography

Early
years

José Sócrates was born in Porto on 6 September 1957, and was registered as
a newborn in Vilar de Maçada, Alijó municipality in northeastern Portugal,
since the locality was his family ancestral homeland. However, the
young José Sócrates lived throughout his childhood and teen years
with his father, a divorced building
designer, in the city of Covilhã, Cova da Beira subregion in central inland
Portugal, in the Centro region. His parents are Fernando
Pinto de Sousa (b. Vilar de Maçada, Alijó, 15 November 1926) and wife Maria Adelaide
de Carvalho Monteiro (b. Vilar de Maçada, Alijó, 8 October 1931). He has two younger
siblings, António, born ca. 1962, and Ana Maria, died in 1988.

Political
career

José Sócrates was one of the founders of JSD (the youth branch
of PSD - Portuguese Social Democratic Party) before
changing his political affiliation and apply for membership in the
PS - Portuguese Socialist Party.
He has been a member of the Socialist Party since 1981. José
Sócrates served as a technical engineer for the Covilhã City Council, and
was a member of the Portuguese Parliament from 1987 until 1995,
representing the Castelo
Branco electoral district. While serving as the chairperson of
the Castelo Branco Federation of the Socialist Party (1983-1996),
he was elected to the Party's National Secretariat in 1991. From
1989 to 1996, he served as a member of the Covilhã Municipal
Assembly. He served as spokesperson on environmental affairs for
the Socialist Party from 1991 to 1995. In 1995, he entered
government as secretary of state for Environment in the first
government of António Guterres. Two years later,
Sócrates became Minister for Youth and Sports and was one of the
organizers of the EURO 2004 cup in Portugal. He became
Minister for Environment in Guterres' second government in 1999.
Following the elections of 2002 (won by José Manuel
Durão Barroso), Sócrates became a member of the opposition in
the Portuguese Parliament. Meanwhile he also
had a program of political analysis joint with Pedro
Santana Lopes on RTP.
After the resignation of Ferro Rodrigues as party leader in
2004, he won a bid for the post of secretary-general against Manuel Alegre and
João Soares, winning the vote
of nearly 80% of party members on 24 September 2004. After the
victory of his party in the 2005 Portuguese election, Sócrates was
called on 24 February by president Jorge Sampaio to form a new government -
the 17th Constitutional Government (after 1976). He also became a
Member of the Portuguese Council of State
as the Prime-Minister.

Personal
life

Family and
residence

A father of two, Sócrates is divorced from Sofia da Costa Pinto
Fava, daughter of José Fava and Clotilde da Costa Pinto, by whom he
has two sons, José Miguel (b. 1993) and Eduardo (b. 1995) Fava
Pinto de Sousa. Sócrates lives in Lisbon, although he is a
registered elector of the municipality of Covilhã, the place where he votes.

Health and
well-being

José Sócrates had photos of himself taken during his morning jog at places like the Red Square in Moscow, Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana, Luanda, and Lisbon. In January 2008 a smoking ban entered
force in Portugal's public buildings and public transport, but
Sócrates was reported to have been smoking in May during a private
state flight to Venezuela where he met Hugo Chávez. He
has since admitted it was a mistake, apologised and promised to
quit smoking. In addition, he claimed he was not aware he was
breaking the law when he did so.[5]

Major
policies

Administrative reforms

The XVII Governo Constitucional government, headed by
Prime Minister José Sócrates, created new rules and implemented
reforms aiming better efficiency and rationalized resource
allocation in the public sector, fighting civil servant
overcapacity (excedentários) and achieving less
bureaucracy for both citizens and companies (eg: empresa na
hora[6],
PRACE - Programa de Reestruturação da Administração Central do
Estado[7], and
SIMPLEX - Programa de Simplificação Administrativa e
Legislativa[8]), among
others. Since the XVII Governo Constitucional government
(with José Sócrates as Prime Minister and Teixeira dos Santos as Minister of Finance)
Portugal's fiscal policy improved with a steady increase of the
number of taxpayers and the growth of the receipt amount from State
taxation. Several reforms and measures implemented in 2006/2007 by
the government (XVII Governo Constitucional - headed by
Prime Minister José Sócrates), resulted in improved welfare system
financial sustainability but reduced income expectations of future
pensioners up to 40%.[9] In
addition, economically active people must work for more years
before retirement than formerly.[10] After
the Portuguese regionalization referendum of 1998 where the "No" to
regionalization of the country into seven regions was victorious,
the XVII Governo Constitucional government announced in
January 2009[11] its
firm intention of starting again a regionalization
process for Portugal. According to this governmental project, mainland Portugal is to be regionalized
de jure into five
regions with a wide range of administrative autonomy, using the
already established NUTS 2 system: Alentejo, Algarve, Centro, Lisbon, and Norte.

Technological
plan

One of the government's main policies was the Plano
Tecnológico (Technological Plan), aimed to increase Portugal's
competitive advantage through the modernization of its
economy. The plan consisted of three key areas: knowledge,
technology and innovation. The government goal was to modernize the
Portuguese economy by concentrating its efforts and investment in
these three key areas.[12] A low-costIntel-based
netbook for use by children
announced by Sócrates's government cabinet, named
Magalhães (after Fernão de
Magalhães) and packaged and assembled for the Portuguese
school-age children and the low-to-middle income economy export
market by the Portuguese company J.P. Sá Couto, headquartered in Matosinhos, Norte
region, was among the government's innovations under the
Technological Plan policy. Other governmental effort regarding the
accomplishment of the government's technological plan was the
state-support provided to a Portuguese factory of the Germany-based
semiconductor company Qimonda AG, in Vila do Conde, Norte region, when the
parent company filed a bankruptcy petition with the local court in
Munich, Germany, in early
2009. Qimonda Portugal was at the time one of the top Portuguese
net exporters of technology.[13]

Educational
reforms

The government allocated more resources for education policy and
reorganised the sector aiming more choice and better quality in
vocational technical education. Enhanced and improved vocational
technical education programs where implemented in 2007 in an effort
to revitalize this sector which had been almost discontinued after
the Carnation Revolution of 1974.
Other education policies included more financial support for
students (in all educational levels), systematic teaching and
school evaluation, ranking and benchmarking of teaching
institutions and even the compulsory closing of some problematic
and unreliable private higher education institutions (like the Independente University and Moderna
University). During the XVII Governo Constitucional,
the pan-European Bologna Process was fully implemented in
Portugal. On the other hand, the government created a policy of
certification and equivalence of qualifications for adult people
with low levels of formal education who want a 4th, 6th, 9th or
12th grade equivalence without returning to school (for example,
through this process, called Novas Oportunidades, [14][15]
adults (18 years old and older) with the 9th grade might be granted
an equivalence to the 12th grade after a process ranging from a
part-time 3-month programme or a 1 day per week 8-month programme;
those who have less than 9th grade have a similar programme to get
the 9th grade certification and can then apply to the 12th grade
programme). The curricula do not include any classical high school
discipline or a traditional examination process. These diplomas are
awarded based on vaguely construed life experience. Some critics
alleged this policy was an effort to make up the poor national
statistical indicators on education, with little impact on the
quality of the work force's qualification of Portugal in the
European Union context.[16][17][18]

Transportation
developments

Prime Minister José Sócrates and his government team supported
the decision of building new transportation infranstructure such as
a new airport for Lisbon and a TGV
network. For months the government of Prime Minister José Sócrates
insisted the country's only option for a new airport was in the Ota region north
of Lisbon. But a powerful lobby, headed by local business honchos
and given the imprimatur of the Portuguese president Aníbal
Cavaco Silva, forced Sócrates's Government into reversal, by
bringing an alternative site for the new airport – the Portuguese Air Force's shooting
range in Alcochete south
of Lisbon. A study commissioned by a group of businesspeople said
the Alcochete site would save taxpayers as much as €3bn in
construction costs, and would have less of an environmental impact.
The government argued that Ota was a key piece of its overall
transport strategy, which included highspeed rail lines to Spain,
but even so recognized that the project wasn't finalized and that a
debate on the pros and cons of both sites would be worthwhile. Then
the government commissioned a technical study to the state-run
civil engineering laboratory (Laboratório
Nacional de Engenharia Civil) comparing both locations one to
each other. Following the conclusions of that study, on the 10
January 2008 the Prime Minister José Sócrates announced the option
Alcochete as the most rational choice for a new airport for
Lisbon.

Other

In 2007, the XVII Governo Constitucional, headed by
Prime Minister José Sócrates, legalised abortion in Portugal after a referendum.
Voters were being asked to decide whether to make abortion legal in
the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, if carried out at the woman's
request in a registered clinic. Despite the turnout for a
referendum being too low (40%; 50% needed) to be legally binding,
José Sócrates said: "Our interest is to fight clandestine abortion
and we have to produce a law that respects the result of the
referendum."[19] This
socialist government cabinet also announced its intention to
legalize same-sex marriage at some point
during its mandate.

After a sharp increase of the violent crimerate in
Portugal during the XVII Governo Constitucional
government (2005 - 2009), the Minister of Internal Administration
Rui Pereira
announced in February 2009 the expansion of the police force
through the recruitment of 2,000 new police officers, 7,000 new
state-of-the-art police weapons, 1,000 bulletproof vests,
among other measures.[20]

Presidency of
the Council of the European Union

José Sócrates, as Prime Minister of Portugal, presided over the
rotative Presidency
of the Council of the European Union for the period
July-December 2007. [3] In this post,
Sócrates and his team focused on the EU-Brazil (1st EU-Brazil
summit) and EU-African Union (2007 Africa-EU Summit) relations, as well
as in the approval of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Portuguese Parliament voted to ratify the
Treaty of Lisbon on 23 April 2008. After the Irish referendum on 12
June 2008, Prime Minister José Sócrates said he saw the Irish "No"
to the treaty as a "personal defeat" after it was signed by EU
leaders in the Portuguese capital.[21] A
second referendum was held in Ireland in 2009, and the outcome was
the approval of the Treaty of Lisbon by all EU member states,
including Ireland.

Controversies

Sócrates-Independente
affair

In March 2007, Universidade
Independente (UnI), a private university in Lisbon, was
placed under investigation on alleged irregularities on several
matters.

In that same month, Sócrates' licenciatura degree in
civil engineering by Universidade Independente was put
under enormous public scrutiny.[3]
Journalists found that qualifications awarded did not follow
procedure and that four of the five academic
disciplines were given in the private university by the same
professor, António José Moraes, a socialist government appointee. A
fifth academic discipline, "technical English" was given by the
Independente's rector. A
strong case was built up related to possible false declarations by
José Sócrates regarding his university degree, and the way he was
awarded this degree in civil engineering.

Some Portuguese news media professionals stated that Sócrates or
members of his staff, through phone calls, threatened court action
against journalists and tried to stop the reportings on his
licenciatura degree awarded by UnI.[22] On 9
April 2007, Universidade Independente was closed by
government officials after an investigation reported several
serious irregularities in the running of this private
university.

Under heavy pressure, Sócrates provided his version of the facts
on Wednesday 11 April 2007 in a live broadcast interview for the RTP 1 TV
channel and RDP radio.
The Prime Minister stated he was not favoured by the
Universidade Independente to obtain the degree, declared
he had been the target of "catty accusations", and defended the
authenticity of the degree, though admitting he is not a fully
chartered civil engineer.[23] In
his official biography at the Portuguese
Government's official website Mr Sócrates claimed to have
already obtained the coveted qualification of engineer. He later admitted that was a
"lapse", and the government website altered his CV, downgrading
"civil engineer" to "diploma in civil engineering". In the interest
of accuracy, he should have used "licenciado em engenharia
civil" instead of "engenheiro". Before he had been
granted the degree, he presented himself as an "engineer" when he
was solely a "technical engineer". Portuguese Parliament documents with
official information on Sócrates personal data were found proving
such inconsistencies.[24]
Sócrates and his staff replied to this by stating that it was
probably a misunderstanding in the parliamentary services. After
having the licenciatura diploma he used the title
"engineer" in several official documentation, despite the fact that
his unaccredited degree in civil engineering from Universidade
Independente was not legally recognized to allow for the use
of the title "engineer"; a profession which is regulated in
Portugal by the Ordem dos Engenheiros.

José Sócrates was fiercely criticised by members of Portugal's
democratic opposition in the Parliament regarding both proved and
unproven issues related with this controversy. Nicolau Santos, a
television journalist and a director of Expresso newspaper, criticised the
controversial series of fait-divers published in Público and claimed that
although the extensive coverage of details, Público's investigation
lead to "no definitive conclusion" and might be connected with
other issues. In the same tone, several other media personalities,
like SIC
Notícias' journalist Ricardo Costa, also suggested
controversially that SONAE corporation, the parent company of
Público newspaper, was behind the beginning of the controversy due
to a failed takeover bid of SONAE's telecommunications
operator over the largest Portuguese telecom - Portugal
Telecom.[25] The
complexity of the takeover bid involving the largest Portuguese
telecom, prompted State intervention by the Autoridade da
Concorrência (The Portuguese Competition Authority).

Investigation

State authorities investigated the affair and archived the file
as the suspicions of falsification and irregularities allegedly
attributed to José Sócrates turned out to be unfounded. On the
other hand, the Universidade Independente was investigated
by education state authorities in 2007, which resulted in the
compulsory closing of that private university due to lack of
academic rigour and teaching quality, along with generalized
managerial and financial chaos in the institution.

Wikipedia

On 17 August 2007, a new controversy arose after the discovery
that a government computer had been used to remove all the
references to the Sócrates-Independente affair from Wikipedia.[26] The
specific government computer is only one among several dozen
included in the IP range of the computer services of the
state.

Magalhães
computer

A low-costIntel-based netbook for use by children announced by
Sócrates's government cabinet, named Magalhães (after Fernão de Magalhães) assembled by the
Portuguese company J.P. Sá Couto, was on the middle of a
controversy on 7 October 2008, because the assembler J.P. Sá Couto
became a suspect of tax evasion in values worth 5 million euros
and Magalhães notebook project was sponsored by the Portuguese
government headed by José Sócrates.[27] J.P.
Sá Couto dismissed all the accusations regarding alleged fiscal
fraud within the company.[28] Other
major controversy regarding Magalhães computer were the
legal issues about public contracting procedure in the agreement
involving the Government and the company J.P. Sá Couto. The case
led to an investigation that raised other similar issues involving
other governmental agreements and public contracts.[29]

Freeport outlet
controversy

Since 2005, and, especially again in 2009, it was suggested by
some Portuguese and British media that José Sócrates allegedly
waived environmental restrictions, following intervention by one of
his uncles and a cousin, to grant the British company Freeport a
licence to build the Alcochete mall, a gigantic emporium near the
Tagus river, developed in part
on protected land outside Lisbon in 2002, when he was Minister for
Environment of the PM António Guterres cabinet.[30][31]
Portuguese authorities have meanwhile insisted José Sócrates was
not under investigation, nor was he a suspect, while UK's Serious Fraud
Office refused to confirm the veracity of reports emanating in
Portugal. José Sócrates also stated the Freeport project was in due
compliance with all legal requirements at the time.[32]

In a DVD held by the British police and released in March 2009
by the Portuguese media, Charles Smith, a consultant hired to
handle the licensing of the Freeport of Alcochete, clearly stated
that José Sócrates "was corrupt" and that he received, through a
cousin, money to give the green light to the project for the
"outlet". The recording revealed by TVI is only part of a
conversation of 20 minutes that alongside Charles Smith also
included John Cabral, an official of the consultant, and Alan
Perkins, director of Freeport. It was the latter who, without
knowledge of the other two, has recorded the event, where Smith and
Cabral were questioned about the money that left the company to be
used for the payment of "gloves" to the current Prime Minister.
Charles Smith is one of two defendants in the case Freeport,
commercial space on the process of Freeport Alcochete, related to
alleged suspicions of corruption in the amendment to the Special
Protection Area of the Tagus estuary (ZPET) decided three days
before the elections of 2002, through a decree-law, when José
Sócrates was Minister of Environment.

The conversation now revealed took place in 2006 with the aim of
explaining the large outgoing amounts of money from the company's
headquarters in London at the time of approval of the project.
According to some sources contacted in London by TVI, José Sócrates
remains the main suspect of British police. The British police are
now set to send to the Portuguese authorities the 25 volumes of all
research done in this process in England. The Serious Fraud Office,
which investigates major financial fraud in Britain, has seen its
activity limited due to the lack cooperation of the Portuguese
authorities in investigating the case. The first official meeting
took place only on November 17, 2008 in The Hague, the headquarters
of Eurojust, a body which is designed to facilitate judicial
cooperation in the EU. The judge Cândida Almeida, director of DCIAP
(Central Department for investigation and prosecution), which
coordinates the department's prosecutor who investigates the case,
refused a joint research proposal by the English. Then have taken
note of the DVD. The prosecutor dropped the evidence, arguing that
it was not in Portuguese law.[33]

The Eurojust tried to
distance itself from the scandal involving its head, José da Mota,
Portuguese, who allegedly put pressure on prosecutors in order to
stop a corruption probe involving Portuguese Prime Minister José
Sócrates. Two magistrates dealing with the so-called Freeport
affair accused José Mota of having tried to persuade them to
side-line the investigation at the request of the Portuguese
premier and the minister of justice. The premier and Mr Mota's
relationship goes back to the late nineties, when they worked in
the same government as state secretaries for environment and
justice respectively. In 2002, when the new EU body was formed
(Eurojust), Mr Mota was transferred to Hague as Portugal's
representative to Eurojust. He was elected head of the judicial
co-operation body in 2007, at a time when the so-called Freeport
case had already started in Portugal.[34]

Face Oculta
scandal

Another corruption case involving Sócrates is the Face Oculta scandal. On
28 October 2009 the police began investigating a business group
headquartered in Ovar. Armando Vara, one of
the suspects, is reported to have had "talks" with Sócrates. He
denies any involvement, claiming he was only talking to a
friend.[35]

References
and notes

^
The Portuguese bacharelato degree awarded by polytechnical
institutions or its predecessors, was not a bachelor's degree - it
was one step below. Only the licenciatura degree was equal
to the bachelor's degree. (See Higher education in
Portugal for details)